Forecast

Danbury agency helping as many as 40 migrant kids

At 13 years old, Johanna's life was so threatened by gangs in El Salvador that she couldn't leave her home or go to school without fear.

Gang members knew her father was living in the United States and sending money back. What the family saw as a way to survive, the gangs saw as an opportunity for extortion.

"My mom was robbed many times by the gangs," said Johanna, speaking Spanish. "They told my mom they would hurt and kill us if she stopped giving them money."

After a brutal attack left her mother mentally incapacitated, Johanna was left to be raised by her grandparents. At times, she took care of her younger siblings.

Her father, living in Connecticut, saw no choice, so in March, Johanna made the perilous journey to America alone. Two years earlier, her brother, Wilbur, made a similar trip.

Now 14, Johanna represents thousands of undocumented, unaccompanied migrant children who have crossed into the U.S. this year, fleeing violence in Central America.

As with each of the four young people recently interviewed for this report, Johanna's full name is being withheld for safety reasons.

"It is mind-boggling the negative attention that these children are receiving when this is really a humanitarian issue," says Carlos Valenzuela, executive director of the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury, which is helping as many as 40 migrant teens from Latin America with everything from finding their parents to applying for a driver's license.

"These children are coming here to flee persecution because they have no choice, and we are proposing to send them back to their death," he said.

Nearly 58,000 such children were caught on the Southwest border with Mexico from last October to July -- almost double the number intercepted during the same period a year ago, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Earlier this month, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration denied a request to temporarily house up to 2,000 minors at Southbury Training School. The Connecticut location is one of many the federal government has considered across the country to temporarily house migrants.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, a Republican, said he was not invited to take part in last week's conference call with the Democratic mayors. But Boughton also said his city will cooperate with faith-based groups and anyone else in Danbury looking to provide humanitarian relief.

Boughton, who has previously taken a hard line stand on illegal immigration, said it is the federal government's job to find a solution because local governments don't have the resources to house refugees.

"I agree that's not a suitable place to put traumatized children," she said of the Southbury Training School.

The nonprofit International Institute of Connecticut helps youths reunited with their families get services such as English classes and legal help. Anderson said the surge in unaccompanied minors crossing the border has been felt by her organization, which she said has taken on 26 cases so far in 2014, compared to about five last year.

Valenzuela said these children had no choice but to flee.

"The gangs found out that one of our girls was getting money from her father, and they threatened her if she didn't pay and beat her up so bad she was forced to get out of there," Valenzuela said.

"If you come here from Cuba, you have an avenue for political asylum. But if you come from El Salvador or one of the other Central American countries, you don't have that."

Fleeing the violence

David was only 10 years old when he saw his brother murdered in Guatemala over a land dispute between his family and men known as "narcos" -- people connected to the drug trade.

The family quickly sold their home and moved away to avoid further conflict, but the experience left them in shambles. Many of David's siblings came to the U.S. to fill the void in the family's income.

David said he was so traumatized he stopped going to school. He eventually made his way north to join his brothers in 2013.

Others can relate to David's plight.

"I felt like I couldn't do anything with my life," said Veronica, 14, who fled extreme poverty in El Salvador when she arrived in America last September.

Veronica recalls working before the age of 10. She was raised by grandparents, she said, after her mother tried numerous times to sell her off as a baby.

While the four young people interviewed, including Johanna's brother, Wilbur, came to the United States at different times and by different means, they had similar, harrowing experiences.

Children who migrate alone face violence, sexual abuse and physically arduous journeys, with stints in the desert and often stretches of time without food.

Wilbur rode atop the infamous "Beast" -- the train that runs north through Mexico and has been featured in movies such as "Sin Nombre."

"It was really hot, and we had to hang on really tight to stay on top," Wilbur said. "The gangs would come and rob people on top of the train."

Humanitarian crisis

On July 8, President Barack Obama asked Congress to approve $3.7 billion in emergency funds to help. Most of that money was to go toward dealing with children in the United States, but some was to be used to speed up deportations and deter people from coming.

Republicans have used the issue to lambast Obama, saying policies like his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals have encouraged minors to come here thinking they could get a free pass.

To be eligible for DACA, a person must have lived continuously in the U.S. since June 15, 2007.

The four children interviewed said DACA played no role in their decision to come. Wilbur came before DACA was announced.

A better life

The Hispanic Center is working to get children asylum through the DACA process, Valenzuela said.

The Obama administration, however, has indicated it would request a change in immigration law so future unaccompanied migrant children from Central America would not be guaranteed due process in immigration court.

If the government's request were to become law, children like Johanna, David, Wilbur and Veronica who are caught at the border could be sent back more quickly.

Valenzuela said that would be unjust.

"Everybody deserves a chance," he said. "We are a country that is built on due process."